In the final game of the 2024-25 regular season, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes 81-66 in Iowa City on Sunday following a first half riddled with turnovers and a second half filled with foul troubles.
Sunday’s game against Iowa came after a 30-point loss versus the No. 2 UCLA Bruins. Wisconsin fared much better against the Hawkeyes, but they still displayed the same mistakes that created a gap between the Badgers and the teams above them in the Big Ten standings.
Junior forward Serah Williams scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to record a double-double, her seventh of the season. Williams finished the regular season averaging a double-double, a testament to her dominant junior season with the Badgers.
Carter McCray was the next leading scorer with 17 points and 10 rebounds herself. Tess Myers scored 12 points with an impressive 4-7 performance from 3-point range. Myers will look to stay hot, as her 3-point ability is crucial for Wisconsin to stay in games during the Big Ten Tournament.
Iowa’s Lucy Olsen led all scorers with 22 points, playing all but three minutes in the game. Hannah Stuelke was right before Olsen with 21 points, going a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line and grabbing 15 rebounds in an overall stellar display.
Addison O’Grady and Sydney Affolter both had 10 points to round out Iowa’s double-digit scorers in the game.
The first quarter saw both teams come out of the gates swinging offensively. Iowa jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead, but Wisconsin crawled back in with the efforts of McCray and Williams. McCray had nine of her 17 points in the period, with Williams right behind with six. Olsen led Iowa in the period with six.
McCray willed her way to an and-1 to end the quarter 21-20 for the Badgers.
Three minutes of scoreless play went on to start the second quarter until Iowa took the lead with a Stuelke layup. She scored nine points in the second period to keep the Iowa lead throughout the period, but Myers went 2-2 from 3-point land to keep Wisconsin in it. A 3-pointer by Myers with one second remaining left the two teams tied at 36.
Iowa started the second half on a 9-0 run that signaled trouble for Wisconsin. Not only was Iowa’s offense starting to efficiently score, but the Badgers also couldn’t stay out of foul trouble. Both McCray and Porter picked up two personal fouls in the third quarter, forcing head coach Marisa Moseley to sit two of her best players.
Iowa closed the third period with a 62-53 edge and wouldn’t look back in the fourth. Williams also committed her fourth personal foul early in the fourth quarter. With three of Wisconsin’s starters playing very conservatively trying not to get their fifth foul, Iowa took advantage of the defense.
Three consecutive offensive rebounds by Stuelke electrified the Iowa crowd, who erupted after she scored on the Hawkeyes’ fourth attempt in the possession. The sequence closed the door on Wisconsin, ending the second half in stark contrast to the first.
Looking to the Big Ten Tournament, the Badgers will have the opportunity to avenge their loss against Iowa. Placing as the No. 14 seed in the tournament, they’ll match up once again with the No. 11 seeded Hawkeyes at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday.
Wisconsin will look to gain a win in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since beating Illinois in the 2020 edition of the tournament.
